Mine In The Dark

Thin Walls

Elara dreamed of footsteps in the rain.

Not threatening ones. Steady. Measured. The kind that stayed just far enough behind to watch over someone without being seen. When she woke, the feeling of those footsteps still clung to her, soft and heavy at the same time.

The black stone and the two notes were still in her nightstand drawer. She opened it just to check, fingertips brushing the feather before she closed it again. The apartment felt quiet in that new way — like it was holding its breath with her.

She got dressed, pulled her hair into a loose knot, and tried to act like this was any other morning. It almost worked until she opened her front door and found something waiting.

A paper cup of coffee sat neatly on the doormat. Still warm. Her exact order from the café three blocks away — oat milk, one sugar, no foam — written in the same sharp handwriting on the side of the cup.

You barely ate yesterday.

— The one who watches

Elara stared down at it for a long moment, heart beating too fast. She slowly bent and picked it up. The cup was warm against her palms. Steam curled from the small opening in the lid.

Someone had been here only minutes ago.

She looked down the hallway. Empty. Quiet. Riven’s door was closed, no sound coming from inside. Still, the air felt charged, like he had only just stepped out of sight.

Elara carried the coffee inside and closed the door with her foot. She didn’t drink it right away. She just stood in her kitchen holding it, feeling the heat seep into her hands, and tried to decide if she should be more afraid or more touched.

In the end she took a careful sip.

It was perfect.

Maya nearly choked on her own drink when Elara told her at lunch.

“He got your coffee order right?” Maya leaned across the table, eyes wide. “That’s not admirer behavior anymore. That’s ‘I’ve been studying you like a final exam’ behavior.”

Tessa frowned softly, turning the empty paper cup Elara had brought as proof. “It’s also ‘I was close enough to leave this while you were still inside’ behavior. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I don’t know,” Elara admitted. She kept her voice low even though the café around them was noisy. “Part of me knows I should change the locks or call someone. But every time I think about it, I remember the notes. He keeps saying I’m safe. And… I feel like I am.”

Maya pointed a dramatic finger at her. “That right there. That soft little look on your face. You’re catching feelings for a man who leaves things on your doorstep like a very tall, very intense crow.”

“I am not.”

“You are a little,” Tessa said gently, almost apologetic. “It’s in your voice.”

Elara dropped her forehead to the table with a quiet groan. Both of her friends laughed, though Tessa’s was softer and more worried. Maya reached over and patted the back of her head.

“There, there. When you finally meet him and he turns out to be six-foot-something with big hands and a tragic backstory, I expect full details.”

“Maya.”

“I’m just preparing emotionally.”

Elara left work a little earlier than usual, the memory of the coffee and Maya’s teasing still warm in her chest. The sky was clear for once, the air cool and clean after days of rain. She walked the familiar route home with her keys already between her fingers, eyes scanning the sidewalk more carefully than before.

She was two blocks from her building when the feeling changed.

It wasn’t the usual steady sense of being watched. This one was sharper. Wrong. Like someone else’s attention had landed on her and stayed there too long.

Elara glanced over her shoulder. A man in a dark jacket walked a short distance behind her. When she looked, he didn’t turn away. He kept the same pace, eyes fixed on her in a way that made the hair on her arms rise.

She walked faster.

So did he.

Her heart started climbing into her throat. She crossed the street at the next light, hoping he would stay on the other side. He crossed too. Not running. Just matching her, calm and certain.

Elara’s building was still a full block away.

She reached for her phone, ready to call Maya or Tessa, when a large figure stepped out of the narrow alley just ahead of her.

Riven.

He didn’t look at her at first. He looked past her, straight at the man who had been following. Something in his posture changed — subtle but unmistakable. His shoulders settled lower, his chin tilted just slightly, and the easy way he usually carried himself disappeared. He looked bigger somehow, like the space around him had to make room.

The man in the dark jacket slowed, then stopped.

Riven’s voice was quiet, almost conversational, but it carried.

“Keep walking.”

The man hesitated. Riven took one step forward. That was all. The follower decided whatever he had planned wasn’t worth it. He turned and disappeared down a side street without another glance.

Elara stood frozen on the sidewalk, coffee from that morning still a sweet memory on her tongue and her pulse racing for an entirely different reason now.

Riven finally looked at her. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were darker than usual. A faint movement at the corner of his mouth showed he was still chewing the same piece of bubblegum.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, not trusting her voice yet.

He studied her face for a second longer, like he was checking for himself. Then he tilted his head toward their building.

“Come on. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

Elara fell into step beside him. She had to take two steps for every one of his. The difference in their sizes had never felt more obvious. His shoulder was nearly level with the top of her head. When a group of people passed and the sidewalk narrowed, his hand briefly touched the small of her back, guiding her closer to him until the crowd was gone. The touch lasted only a second, but the heat of it stayed.

They didn’t speak again until they reached the entrance of the building. Riven opened the door and waited for her to go first. In the lobby he stopped, looking down at her with that same steady intensity.

“Text someone when you’re inside,” he said. “Your friends. Anyone.”

“I will.”

He nodded once. Then, quieter: “If anything feels off again, you don’t walk alone. Understood?”

The way he said it left no room for argument. Elara nodded. She could still feel the place between her shoulder blades where his hand had rested for that brief moment.

She climbed the stairs first. She didn’t hear him follow, but she knew he did. When she reached her door and looked back, he was already at his own, keys in hand. Their eyes met one last time across the hallway.

Something unspoken passed between them — heavy, charged, and far too knowing.

Then he unlocked his door and disappeared inside.

Elara stepped into her apartment, locked every lock, and leaned back against the wood. Only then did she realize her hands were shaking.

On the counter, waiting for her, was a new note she hadn’t seen when she left that morning.

He won’t follow you again.

I made sure.

— The one who watches

Her breath left her in a soft, shaky exhale.

She walked to the wall that separated her apartment from Riven’s and placed her palm flat against it. It was cool and solid and far too thin. For a moment she could almost imagine she felt him on the other side, standing just as close, listening to the same silence.

She didn’t know how right she was.

On the other side of the wall, Riven stood with both hands braced against the plaster, head bowed, the last of the shift still burning under his skin. His claws had nearly broken free when he saw the man following her. It had taken everything he had to stay human, to only use his voice and his presence instead of something far more permanent.

He could smell her fear fading on the other side of the wall. He could hear her soft breathing. He could feel the treaty like a chain around his throat.

Riven closed his eyes and pressed his forehead harder against the wall.

“I can’t keep doing this,” he whispered to the empty room.

“I can’t keep watching you walk away from me.”

The bubblegum between his teeth finally tore.

And for the first time since the treaty had been sworn, Riven Kade seriously considered breaking it.